


Pearl & Marina Being Gay But It's In Minecraft (pearlina week)

by floralQuaFloral



Series: fqf's Pearlina Week Fics [2]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Splatoon
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Haha get it because miner--, Miner Injuries, Minor Injuries, Pearlina Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 22:15:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19385671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floralQuaFloral/pseuds/floralQuaFloral
Summary: Pearlina Week Prompt #4: Alternate UniverseWhat if Pearl and Marina were in Minecraft? No, no one has ever asked that question. But I really like Minecraft and I also really like Pearl and Marina. So. Here's Pearl and Marina being gay and living in a castle in Minecraft.Actual Summary: Pearl has an unlucky encounter with everyone's favorite explosive green monster. Things get kinda bad.





	Pearl & Marina Being Gay But It's In Minecraft (pearlina week)

**Author's Note:**

> Just to be clear, if it wasn't already... They're not playing Minecraft, they're in a Minecraft world. I don't really know how they got there but it's not important.
> 
> CW: someone gets a bit badly injured. It's not mega-graphic, and they get better fast (they're Splatoon characters, after all), but if kinda-almost-blood isn't your jam be careful please?
> 
> Hope you enjoy!! ❤

     Pearl stepped carefully through the gardens, surveying the rows of vegetable seedlings lining the castle's exterior wall. It was getting late, sure, but she wanted to make sure everything was back in order - she was pretty sure she and Marina had enough food in storage to last a while, but food wasn't something she would want to gamble on.

     And so, even after spending almost the whole day replanting everything - one of the cows had somehow gotten out and trampled every garden overnight, _again_ \- she took the time to double check. Although, she noted, looking towards the sky, it really was getting late. Marina had been busy in the tower when Pearl went to shoo the cow back into its pen, hours ago. It wasn't rare for her to get too wrapped up with whatever she was doing in there to notice the passage of time, but Pearl couldn't help but worry a little.

     Before she left the gardens to step back into the main tower, though, she paused. How late _was_ it, really? If she was going to try to convince Marina it was getting too late to keep organizing the chests, or setting up the map room, or doing whatever she was doing, she would need to know what time it really was. With that in mind, she stepped back to the wall and drew her pickaxe. Just a quick peek, she told herself. Just to check where the moon was, to see if there were monsters showing up outside yet.

     With a quick few swings, a chunk of stone brick popped off the wall and into her inventory. Right beyond the threshold of the newly-opened window, a patterned green face turned and made eye contact with Pearl.

\--🎧👑--

     Marina had been hunched over the anvil on the third floor of the castle tower, sliding books back and forth along its iron face for nearly an hour. There was something weird about the books - she and Pearl had found them, two in total, covered in dust and crammed haphazardly into wooden storage bins in some dungeon or other. Each one shone with a bright lavender luster, and both whispered into her head whenever she touched them. The first one always said _'Unbreaking'._ The second was _'Aqua_ _Affinity'._ When they found the books, Pearl had grabbed one, heard the supernatural voice in her head, and promptly thrown it on the floor. It was only thanks to Marina's intellectual curiosity that they weren't left where they were found in that dungeon, and Pearl had taken a _lot_ of convincing to agree to take them back home.

     The inkling still refused to pick them up herself - understandable, Marina felt, the weird magic voice took some getting used to - and also dug out a basement that night specifically for storing the "creepy psychic books". The taller girl was more or less used to this, though. When she wasn't being recklessly bullheaded, Pearl could be surprisingly neurotic, and the books had rubbed her the wrong way from the start.

     That said, she couldn't stop Marina from trying to figure out what they did. She did deliver some strongly-worded warnings, primarily consisting of "don't die" and "don't get possessed or something", but the octoling was pretty sure by now they were safe. Other than speaking silently into her and her girlfriend's heads, they hadn't _done_ anything - until Marina tried setting them down on top of the anvil.

     She couldn't work it out, exactly, but shuffling them around together on its surface produced a strange sort of sparking, some kind of magical interference. The closer they were, the stronger it became, peaking when she set one directly on top of the other. She was trying to figure out what it meant when she heard Pearl scrambling up the tower ladder.

     "Babe," she gasped, out of breath but still climbing, just as her head poked above the trapdoor. Marina rushed over and grabbed an arm, hoisting her girlfriend up and onto the wooden flooring.

     "What is it?," Marina asked, looking her over - "Oh cod, what happened to you, Pearlie?" The squid was covered almost head-to-toe in powderized stone, and she stood unsteadily as if she had just had the wind knocked out of her. She reached out and took her shoulder in her hand to hold her stable.

     Pearl took only a second before responding, not nearly long enough to catch her breath but enough to speak again. "Creeper got the wall. Monsters in the courtyard." She leaned heavily against Marina, trying to manage her breathing. The octoling hesitated momentarily, then lifted her girlfriend and brought her to the anvil, the closest thing to a table in the room. The books were in the way and her hands were full, so she leaned over awkwardly to sweep them onto the floor with a tentacle - _Aqua Affinity._ _ _U__ _ _ _n___ _ _breaking.__

     Marina set Pearl down in a sitting position on the iron surface of the anvil. "Do you have a weapon on you?" Even as she asked, she walked in a quick circle around Pearl, looking her over. It didn't look like she had one - just a pickaxe, a hoe, and a whole lot of vegetable seeds - and Pearl confirmed it.

     "I left it inside when I went out this morning so I wouldn't scare the cow." Somehow, even though her voice was strained and breathy, Pearl managed to sound defensive.

     "Pearl, it's not-" started Marina, before cutting herself off. "Okay, sure." She shifted her hair pink to match Pearl's (although the inkling's hair color was a little hard to see, under the dense gray dust that covered most of it) and pulled her Splattershot from her belt to spray a small, vibrant pink puddle on the ground. Her girlfriend slid down from the anvil and flopped into the ink in squid form. "But please carry one in the future. It's more important that you stay safe. The cow can handle it."

      Pearl made a muffled sound of agreement from the puddle before emerging a second later. "Sorry. I guess that's probably right." Marina was already across the room, trying to get a good look at the interior of the castle through one of the tower's windows.

     "You're fully healed now?" she asked, standing on her toes to try for a better angle.

     "Yeah. Babe, you're never gonna see the situation from there. Just pop open a wall." She walked up next to her girlfriend and drew her pickaxe.

     "Pearl, you can't just keep knocking open walls like that-- be careful!" Two blocks had already been knocked from the wall, and Pearl was leaning over the now-open edge to look down at the inside of the castle three floors down. "Don't fall," said Marina, taking one of Pearl's hands.

     "It's pretty bad down there," Pearl said, ignoring her. "Lotta zombies. A few skeletons. See for yourself." To Marina's relief, she stepped back. For preparedness's sake, the octoling stepped toward the ledge and took a cautious peek down.

     "Shoot, that's looking pretty bad." As she looked, another zombie walked in through the hole blown through the wall. "How did that even happen? Were you outside?"

     Pearl kicked sheepishly at the floor. "Uh. I wanted to see what time it was, so I broke a hole in the wall. Sorry, babe..."

     Marina turned to face her. The inkling was facing away, face dyed pink with mixed embarrassment and shame. Marina squeezed the hand still held in hers. "Hey, it's alright. I'm just glad we're both alright. We can still deal with this." She gave a slight smile, which Pearl reciprocated. "But you're going to need a weapon, and I don't think my Splattershot is going to be good for dealing with this many enemies. You think we should go Brella and Dualies for this?"

     "Sounds smart. Let's go!" Pearl turned and leapt toward the ladder, nearly crossing the whole diameter of the tower in one leap. Marina chuckled at the enthusiasm and followed her, descending to the second floor of the tower - storage.

     When she reached the room, Pearl was kneeling in front of the weapons chest, leaning almost inside of it to rifle through the contents. One Splat Dualie sat next to her on the floor. Marina walked up behind her and looked into the chest - there weren't nearly enough weapons to justify Pearl's difficulty finding the other gun. "Uh, did you lose one of your dualies somewhere?"

     Seemingly giving up, Pearl stood back up, leaving the chest open for Marina. The octoling set her Splattershot inside and pulled out an Undercover Brella. "No! Or, maybe misplaced. But it'll probably be fine. We don't need too much firepower, these guys are pushovers. Do you think I can dodge roll with just one of these?"

     Before Marina could tell her that no, she probably cannot dodge roll with just one of these, Pearl pulled the trigger and activated a roll. The singular dualie fired a heavy spray of ink into the floor and Pearl pitched to her left, but without the other half of the weapon to counteract the force of the blast she tumbled three whole meters sideways, rolling straight into the side of the gardening chest. The lid flew open from the collision. "Ow," Pearl said, lying prone up against the wooden box.

     "Pearlie! Are you alright?"

     Marina stepped close and offered a hand to help Pearl up, which was accepted with a resigned "Yeah, I'm good." The inkling stood up straight and rubbed at the shoulder that had slammed the chest. "Guess I can't do that though."

     Marina gave a relieved laugh and turned to close the container, but stopped. "Why is your dualie in there?" Pearl spun on a heel to look in the chest as well, snatching the gun as soon as she spotted it amidst the various gardening supplies.

     "Uh, I dunno. Guess I was thinking about fixing the gardens when I put it away this morning." She dumped the seeds and the till inside before swinging the lid back shut.

     "But the other one- you-?" She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh. As much as she loved Pearl, sometimes it was best not to try too hard to understand her. "Okay, so we've got our weapons. You ready to go out there?"

     "Think so, yeah. You got any plans?" asked Pearl, twirling the newly-located dualie around her finger.

     "I'm glad you asked! There are too many Skeletons out there to just find a vantage point and keep everything away, so our best bet is probably to stick to a wall and divide our attention. But there are also enough zombies to muck up our ink, so we need to stay close."

     Pearl nodded thoughtfully. "So shoot at anything that moves?"

     Marina couldn't help but smile. "I like the sound of that, but not really. The Brella blocks arrows, so I can deal with the skeletons no problem. But if I get too many zombies on my it'll break."

     "So I should use my sick rolls to stay out of the way and cook anyone who gets too close?"

     "Now you've got it!" Marina nodded approvingly. "So do you think you're ready now?"

     "Shell yeah, let's go!" Pearl darted for the ladder and slid down to the bottom floor, followed close behind by Marina.

     As soon as they touched down at the base of the ladder, a heavy wooden slam sounded off from the tower door. Pearl shot into the air like a rocket with a startled shout, and before she could even land again Marina stood protectively in front of her. Through the small window holes, both girls could see one of the courtyard's zombies staring straight at them. It reared back and hit the door again, sending chunks of wood tumbling forward as one of its fists punched through.

     "Cod, that was surprising," laughed Pearl, nervously. "You wanna take him out first?" She stepped around Marina and reached out towards the door with her right hand, clutching a dualie in her left to prepare.

     Moments before she could grab the doorknob, though, Marina grabbed the back of Pearl's shirt and yanked her away. "Ack!" The shorter girl stumbled backwards into Marina, who caught her wordlessly. "Hey, what--"

     Before she could finish her sentence, the door collapsed inward with the deafening crash of shattering wood. The zombie fell forward with it, lying prone on top of the ruined door. Before it could stand back up, Marina flew forward, jabbing harshly at its head and firing a blast of pink ink. The zombie imploded into a cloud of white smoke.

     "Uh, that was kind of hot."

     Marina laughed, but then stopped herself. "Not the time, babe. We've gotten their attention now." The zombies outside had started growling noisily, and a skeleton a few meters back was notching an arrow, training its empty gaze on the octoling.

     "Got it!" Pearl sent a spray of ink forward, past Marina and out the doorway. Without a moment of hesitation she dropped into squid form and shot forward, swimming over the wreckage of the door and into the open courtyard.

     "Pearlie, careful!" Marina stepped hastily across the mess of wood to join her, but rather than submerging as well she opened fire at the skeleton. Just as the droplets sailed into the monster, it released the bowstring. The canopy flicked open just in time, just barely catching the arrow in the thin plastic.

     A slightly garbled "Booyah" sounded up from the ink under Marina's feet before Pearl rose in humanoid form again, standing right next to her. "Hey, you should check this out!" Without delay, she ducked into a roll, activating her dualies to propel her along the ground, rolling straight towards the skeleton. Already weakened by Marina's Brella, it burst apart into inanimate lengths of bone as she bowled into it. "That was awesome!", Pearl cheered, firing on the nearest undead. It burst into smoke almost immediately under both of the dualies' fire.

     "This isn't a good time to play around, Pearl!" Marina launched another chamber of ink, this time at a more distant Skeleton. Another zombie behind her was knocked over and disintegrated with another attack from Pearl.

     "Uh, got it," she answered distractedly, rolling away again to get in position for another round of shots. A third zombie collapsed and disappeared, and Pearl dipped back into the ink trail she had left to refill her tank and get back to Marina.

     Before she could start swimming, though, a rough green hand plunged into the ink and grabbed her by one of her tentacles, lifting her out of the ground. She couldn't reach her weapon in squid form, and in this position she couldn't switch back either - she only squirmed helplessly began the monster gripped her by the mantle and began shaking vigorously.

     _"Pearlie!"_ There was an impactful _thump_ before Pearl tumbled unceremoniously back to the ground, landing in the ink with a splash. She stood up in humanoid form and shook away the dizziness. "Are you alright?" asked Marina, opening her Brella and backing them both up against one of the castle walls.

     "Think so," said Pearl as she tried to make her head stop spinning. "He just shook me around kinda hard."

     "Drop back under again if you need to, I'll make sure nothing gets too close." As she spoke, Marina unloaded shot after shot towards the encroaching monsters, holding them back. Without wasting time giving a spoken response, Pearl ducked back into the puddle that had formed beneath their feet.

     When she came back up, Marina was struggling - one of the zombies had both hands on the Brella's canopy and was holding it open, thrashing violently. Another was swinging its arms in wide, powerful arcs that Marina could only barely avoid without losing her hold on her weapon.

     Without thinking, Pearl leapt at the swinging zombie, firing a volley of shots at the one on Marina's Brella at the same time. She grunted as she collided with her target, her left dualie falling from her grip with the impact. The zombie made an unpleasant choking sound and lost its balance, tumbling downward under Pearl's weight. She landed right on its stomach and, with a dying growl, it collapsed into pale coils of smoke as every other had.

     Above her, Marina took advantage of the opportunity Pearl had afforded her to yank the Brella away. The canopy inverted from being torn out of the monster's grip, but she paid it little mind, elbowing it sharply in the stomach as it recoiled from losing its grip. It fell to the ground, and with a swift kick was dispatched as well. Marina shook the Undercover Brella to force the canopy back into position, and it snapped shut.

     Pearl, back on her feet again, hurriedly stepped back near Marina. She wouldn't be isolating herself again - getting grabbed by an undead just one time was more than enough for her. She rolled back and forth in a tight circle, stopping in a crouch to fire on the nearest monster - one of two skeletons that had come close enough to start drawing an arrow. Her attack was enough to knock one of the creature's arms off, releasing the arrow prematurely. It twirled lazily through the air to settle in the dirt several meters away from both girls.

     The remaining skeleton shifted its aim from Marina towards Pearl. In hopes of directing it back, Marina called out to it as she launched the last chamber's worth of ink at it, emptying her tank. "This way!" The monster's elaborate structure of bones was stained bright pink and it stumbled back from the impact, but rather than training its bow back on Marina it corrected its aim and sent its arrow flying towards Pearl, catching her mid-roll.

     The inkling cursed loudly as they arrow went in through one side of her body and out the other, clattering into the stone wall behind them. It settled in the grass colored vibrantly with internal ink as Pearl skidded forwards, fumbling her dodge roll. She came to a stop laying on her stomach with her chin in the dirt, struggling to stand up.

     Marina's first impulse was to help Pearl - send a spray of ink her way so she could submerge and heal, even just offer a hand to help her up - but before she could even turn towards her injured girlfriend the skeleton was already pulling back on another arrow to fire again. A rush of anger kicked through the octoling and without even stopping to refill her tank she shot forward, thrusting the empty Brella forward like a lance. Before the monster could react, she was upon it, the weapon plunging through its hollow ribcage and snapping its spine, bisecting it entirely with a single hit. Both halves fell to the ground and disintegrated.

     A sharp pain ignited the nerves on Marina's back and she spun around to find that the one-armed skeleton had snuck behind her to crack her over the back with its bow. Behind it, Pearl was still unable to get to her feet. Still pumped up with rage, Marina made a broad overhead swing toward the monster's skull.

     At the last possible moment, its arm flew up, holding the bow at an angle to block Marina's swing. As soon as it met the Brella, the bow splintered into chunks, and the boney arm that had been holding it shattered at the ulna, sending shards of off-white bone and pale brown wood cascading into the grass. Marina stumbled backwards from the impact.

     As soon as it had recovered from the damage it had taken, the skeleton took a step forward and bent its spine and neck in an attempt to deliver a harsh headbutt. In a single fluid motion, Marina stepped back, dropped her Brella, and gripped the skeleton's head in both hands. Without a single second of hesitation, she drove her knee upwards and into the monster's face as hard as she could. It crumpled like wet cardboard as her knee traveled upwards, and the rest of its body fell backwards and disappeared in a puff of calcium dust, not even leaving behind any bones.

     With a quick look towards the remaining monsters - just one more skeleton, not too close, she could spare a second - Marina rushed forward and kneeled by Pearl. "Pearlie," she called out, her voice as audibly anxious as it was breathless. She put a hand to the inkling's dirt-stained cheek.

     Her girlfriend only answered with a pained grunt, remaining motionless. One eye opened to look up at Marina before closing again.

     "Babe, I'm so sorry, just hang in there a second longer," said Marina, turning and rushing to pick up her Brella. She immediately turned back towards Pearl and ducked into the nearest ink puddle for only a fraction of a second, just enough to load the Brella for a single shot.

     Marina hurried back to Pearl's side and crouched over her, spraying a puddle beneath her. "Just go into squid form now, Pearlie, you're going to be alright." She was worried that Pearl might not be able to hear her, but it seemed she could - the inkling girl shrunk into her smaller form and descended into the ink with a wet _plop._ She could hear a pained sound from inside the puddle that made her hearts hurt.

     She knew she would have to deal with the remaining monster - she could hear its footsteps as it approached at its slow, undead pace - but for the time being, Marina couldn't will herself to pull her eyes from the spot where Pearl had disappeared into the ink, waiting anxiously for her girlfriend to resurface fully healed. When she remembered her ink levels, she gave in only enough to drop into the puddle herself for the second it took to refill.

     When she came up, Pearl was still submerged, as she expected. But, more pressingly, she heard behind her the quiet creak of the last skeleton's bow as it drew back an arrow. She spun around and held the canopy open, catching the arrow a moment later when it was realized. Taking another glance behind her to check on Pearl, Marina held down the trigger to fire the Brella, launching ink into the bone monster from behind the safety of the black plastic cover. Just as the skeleton was overcome with ink and collapsed in a small pile of bones, Pearl finally emerged from the puddle.

     "Thanks, babe," she said, sounding drained. "That hurt a lot."

     "It's really no problem," Marina assured, wringing her hands. "Are you feeling alright now?"

     Pearl hesitantly poked at the spot on her chest where she had been hit, and then relaxed. "It feels fine, yeah."

     Immediately, Marina jumped on Pearl, wrapping her in a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay, Pearlie...," she said, her voice tense and muffled, her face buried in Pearl's hair. After a moment's delay, Pearl put her arms around her and squeezed back.

     The moment could only last a second before Pearl spoke. "Wait, but what about the hole in the wall?"

     "Oh my cod, the wall-!" Marina sprung out of the embrace and hurried over the crater in the garden to patch it up, followed closely by her girlfriend.

**Author's Note:**

> How to write an ending 101: hey i don't have a clue why are you asking me
> 
> Thanks for reading this far down! ❤ I'd always love to hear what you thought in a review. If you want to leave Kudos, that's also always so nice.
> 
> I kiiiinda wanna write more Pearlina in Minecraft at some point, maybe? If you wanna see that, please let me know! If you'd rather I stick to other stuff, please let me know that too! I really wanna hear whether people would be into that or if this should stay a one-time thing. Thanks!


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